Flowers From The Garden….

I have enjoyed the flowers from my garden this year tremendously. I have made several bouquets mostly from the peonies and irises:

Then I had the idea to fill a large ball jar with dried peonies.  Here’s the jar:

This was found at Target last fall.  I thought it would be fun to fill with different items throughout the year.

Here’s the jar filled with the dried peony petals:

I’m not sure where this will go in the long term but for now it will be on my mantel in the living room to add a bit of color.

I have a wonderful spring time flower show.  Unfortunately, the rest of the year isn’t so good.  Thankfully, annuals are available that can fill in color but I do prefer the perentials.

For a little bit of sewing, I have picked my next project.  It will be the Aida top pattern by Sew Liberated.  I hope to trace the pattern and watch the associated video within the next couple of days.

Happy Stitching or Gardening!

The Ruffler Foot...

Do you have a ruffler foot for machine?  I do.  I always make sure that I have this foot available just in case I would like to use it.  When I checked my ruffler feet, I found that I had three - one for the Husqvarna Rose/Lisa, one for the featherweight, and one with the treadle.   Here's a picture:

The feet are all the same style only varying in size.  The one on the left belongs to the Featherweight, the one in the back belongs to the treadle, and the one on the right belongs to the Husqvarna.  At one time, this was considered a basic foot on a machine and was provided with machine along with instructions.  I suppose that is why the Featherweight and Treadle have this foot.  Here's a close up of the foot from the Singer book:

The parts are as follows:

A.  Foot - the part by which the ruffler is attached to the presser bar.
B.  Fork Arm - the section that must be placed astride the needle clamp.
C.  Adjusting Screw - the screw that regulates the fullness of the gather.
D.  Projection - the part that projects through the slots in the adjusting lever.
E.  Adjusting Lever - the lever that sets the ruffler for gathering or for making a plait once at every 6 or 12 stitches; also, will disengage the ruffler when neither the gathering or plaiting is desired.
F.  Adjusting Finger - the part which regulates the width or size of the plaits.
G.  Separator Guide - the guide on the underside of the ruffler containing slots into which the edge of the material is placed to keep the heading of the ruffle even; also for separating the material to be ruffled from the material to which the ruffle is to be attached.
H.  Ruffling Blade - the upper blue steel blade with the teeth at the end to push the material in plaits up to the needle.
J.  Separator Blade - the lower blue steel blade without teeth, which prevents the teeth of the ruffling blade coming into contact with the feed of the machine or the material to which ruffle or plaiting is to be applied.

Lines 1 through 5 indicate where the fabric is to be placed for the various operations:

Line 1 - the correct position for the material to which the ruffled material is applied.
Line 2 - material to be ruffled.
Line 3 - the facing for the ruffler.
Line 4 - the strip of piping material.
Line 5 - the edge to be piped.

The little book includes instructions for Adjusting the Ruffler for Gathering, Make a Ruffle and Sew it to the Garment in one operation,  Ruffle and Sew on a Facing in One Operation, Piping a Ruffle, Adjust the Ruffler for Plaiting, Adjust the Ruffler for Group Plaiting and Gathering, and How to Oil the Ruffler.  There are many pages devoted to the use and care of the ruffler.

The instructions that came with the Husqvarna shows a similar picture:

There is no explanation as to what the letters are pointing to in the picture.  The Husqvarna instructions provide How to attach the ruffler to the machine (5 steps), how to set your ruffler (2 small paragraphs), Gather & Sew Pleats (2 small paragraphs), Gather a Ruffle and Sew It on a the same time (2 small paragraphs).  The instructions are about the same size as the picture.

So, how in the world do you learn to use this foot?  There are not that many resources available.  My little library has "Learning and Using Your Ruffler Basic Instructions and Projects" by Leota Black and "The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook" by Charlene Phillips.  I'm pretty sure that the book by Leota Black is not longer in print.  I know that there is someone in Canada that is producing a book. It is Labors of Love.

So, I went on-line to see if there were any resources.  YouCanMakeThis has a free ebook.  It looks like it does a good job explaining the ruffler.  I found this blog - See Kate Sew which has a couple of posts regarding the ruffler.  The pictures show a slightly different version of the ruffler.

Oh, I see lots of opportunity to run a ruffler.  The best would be learning how to gather with it. Think about how much time that would safe.  Think about how nice it would look.   Think about adding decorative ruching on items.

I'm going to do a weekly discussion of attempting to use the ruffler.  Most likely, this will start small and hopefully will turn out a couple of projects. So please join me as I explore the ruffer foot.

Happy Stitching!

Cooking....Slow Cooker Beef

This is slowly turning into a favorite.  I got the original idea from Best Bites with the Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches:

I have tried this recipe 3 times now.  First time, I followed the quick and easy recipe exactly.  The second time, I used my canned hot banana peppers.  My peppers are HOT and I was a little afraid that the meat would be too hot but it wasn't.  The third time, I used ROTEL tomatoes and this was awesome.  So hop on over to Best Bites and try out this recipe.  It is well worth trying.  If you use a large roast, maybe you can have another meal.

Happy Cooking!

Issues With Patterns....

Have you ever found an issue with a pattern?  I have.  Sometimes the issues are minor and sometimes they are not.  How do you handle an issue?  When do you usually find out there is an issue?

I learned a valuable lesson this past weekend and I'm very happy that I had not cut out the pattern in the intended fabric but in a very pink fabric (yes, it was one of those "What were you thinking?" moments when I found it).  Testing a pattern with a muslin is mostly something new for me.  As I have aged, there are more fitting issues that need resolution.

I was using a Silhouettes pattern and I followed the instructions for deciding on a size to the "T".  So you can imagine my surprise when the jacket was skin tight.  First, I was horrified with the thought had I gained that much weight since I traced out this pattern.  The muslin and pattern tracings hit the trash.  When I calmed down, it was decided to trace the next size up because I really want this jacket to work.   The next decision was to double-check the pattern measurements.  That is when I found my surprise and saw the reason that the muslin had been too small.  I was using a "D" front for the sizing and when it was compared to the "B" front, it was smaller.  That was when I contacted the designer to see if there was a way to resolve this issue.  These patterns are expensive.

Lesson learned:  Always double-check the pattern before starting.

Yes, this takes time to do but I have a feeling that it will take less time and money to double-check the pattern before starting a project.  So, do you double-check the pattern?  What are your methods?

Ok, it's off to decide on another project while waiting on the resolution to this issue on this pattern.

Happy Stitching!

A Little Sewing, A Little Knitting, and A Little Gardening....

What can I say?  It has been a busy week. The weather finally calmed down a little and we're seeing temps in the 70sF.  Perfect!

A little sewing?  The Diane Kimono dress is finished.  Here's it is:

The dress is mostly finished.  According to the instructions it is finished but I may be doing some extra work on the neckline.  It is pulling open more than I would like.  I'm either going to add a snap at the "V" or going to stitch it completely closed.  What do you think?

My thoughts on this dress is that I like it.  It is really a nice casual look.  I used a quilting weight broadcloth on this dress and I will think that it would do better in a much lighter weight fabric but when you add the lining which you will need, it might not make a difference.  I chose the fuller skirt option and the smallest hem option which ended up being about 2" wide when finished.   I also chose to make it one color instead of multiples.  That is simply because I didn't have a coordinating fabric for this floral which I love.  DH said that he liked the dress but it made me look rounder than I am.  I wanted to say that I am round.  I think that the drawstring being under the bust is what he is talking about.

Changes:

1. I made a sloped shoulder alteration.

Things I will do differently, if I made this dress again:

1. Go down a size and figure out how to do a full bust adjustment.

A little knitting?  I started the swatch for my next sweater.  I'm taking a Craftsy class on top-down knitting.  I finished my first swatch and it was so cute.  Then, I watch the segment of the class where she discusses making your swatch.  Oops!  She was asking for it to be done in the round and I had done a flat swatch.  So, I ripped it out and started again with my double-pointed needles in the round.  I'm still working on that.

A little gardening?  The flowers continue to look beautiful.  Not all of them bloomed but the ones that did are really nice.  Here's a couple of bouquets:

The vegetable garden has been producing a lot of lettuce and spinach.  The asparagus is all finished. We just pulled out the spinach bed to start something else.  I have been making Chive Vinegar.  I love to see the beautiful color of this:

The one on the right has aged about a week.  The other two were just put in the jars.  Isn't the color pretty?

We found this little fellow in the flower garden:

Cute as it may be, it is not a welcome addition to the garden.  Obviously, not very old.  It didn't move or twitch when we walked up to it.  Here's a picture a couple of hours later:

It walked within a couple of feet of my husband.  Really checking him out.  I'm hoping that it doesn't get to use to us.  I run them off when they get a little older but I have a little pity for the babies when they can barely walk.

Happy Stitching!